Teel Time: Sun remains Virginia Tech's most likely bowl destination

Virginia Tech played Cincinnati in Sun Bowl on New Year's Day 1947 -- in the snow

Virginia Tech played Cincinnati in Sun Bowl on New Year's Day 1947 -- in the snow

David Teel

Auburn’s are-you-kidding-me upset of No. 1 Alabama on Saturday torched many a postseason projection but did not change Virginia Tech’s most likely destination: the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas.

The Hokies have not traveled to such a distant postseason venue since the 2003 Insight Bowl in Phoenix, and many fans are hoping for a more convenient game such as the Russell Athletic in Orlando, Belk in Charlotte, Music City in Nashville, or Chick-fil-A in Atlanta. But those bowls appear set on other ACC teams.

As our sister paper the Los Angeles Times explains, Virginia Tech’s most probable opponent in El Paso would be UCLA. The game is scheduled for New Year’s Eve at 2 p.m., EST, with CBS televising.

Most ACC bowl pairings hinge on whether Clemson (10-2) receives an at-large Bowl Championship Series bid, to the Orange. But the Hokies appear El Paso-bound regardless.

Here’s how bowl sources expect the ACC dominoes to fall:

At No. 1 in the BCS standings, polls and computers, Florida State is ticketed to the national championship game in Pasadena, Calif., if it defeats Duke in Saturday’s conference title contest. The Seminoles are favored by 29 points.

Without its contracted ACC champion, the Orange Bowl then could select Clemson, perhaps to play Alabama, the alma mater of Tigers coach Dabo Swinney. This deal was done had Clemson won at South Carolina on Saturday, but the Tigers’ 31-17 setback added some intrigue.

Clemson (10-2) dropped from sixth to 13th in the BCS standings, and only the top 14 are at-large eligible. The Tigers aren’t expected to sink further when the final standings are calculated Sunday, and if they don’t, the Orange’s history with the ACC figures to prevail, though absent the ACC champion, the game is not obligated to choose a team from the conference.

With Clemson to the Orange, the Chick-fil-A would select from among Duke (10-3 presuming a loss to FSU), Miami (9-3) and Virginia Tech (8-4) to play its SEC representative, which game officials hope is Texas A&M and quarterback Johnny Manziel, last year’s Heisman Trophy winner.

Hokies defensive coordinator Bud Foster scheming against Johnny Football would be great, but as of Monday, the Chick-fil-A appeared more enamored with the superior records of Duke and Miami, especially the Blue Devils and their historic season.

Since the Russell Athletic had Virginia Tech last year, it’s likely to select the Duke-Miami leftover from the Chick-fil-A. Hosting an in-state program such as the Hurricanes is particularly appealing to the Orlando game.

Renowed for its hospitality to fans and players, the Sun has the next choice among ACC teams and from all indications is intent on selecting the Hokies if available. Given the above scenarios, the only other options for the Sun would be Boston College (7-5) and North Carolina (6-6) — Georgia Tech would be available, but there’s no chance of the Yellow Jackets heading to El Paso for the third consecutive season.

If Clemson, either by the Orange’s choice or because of the BCS standings, does not receive an at-large BCS bid, then by rule the Chick-fil-A would have to select the Tigers (7-1 ACC) or Duke (6-2).

(The league and its bowl partners have an agreement that a team can not be bypassed in favor of another with two fewer conference victories. So the Devils are the only squad that a bowl could choose if Clemson also were available.)

Given a Clemson-Duke choice, the Chick-fil-A likely would select — no, this isn’t basketball — the Devils. Duke is that good a story, and besides, the Tigers played in the Atlanta game last season.

In that scenario, the two-win rule would mandate Clemson to Orlando and the Russell Athletic, leaving the Sun Bowl with Virginia Tech or Miami. The Hurricanes played there in 2010, the Hokies not since 1947, their first postseason bid, a snowy affair against Cincinnati.

Below the Sun, the most probable ACC bowl choices are North Carolina to the Belk in Charlotte, Georgia Tech to the Music City in Nashville, Boston College to the AdvoCare V100 in Shreveport, La., and Maryland to the Military in Annapolis, Md.

That exhausts the ACC’s bowl tie-ins, but league newcomers Syracuse and Pittsburgh also are postseason-eligible at 6-6, giving the ACC a record 11 such teams. With other conferences unable to fill all their contracted bowls, the Orange and Panthers could well land in games such as the Pinstripe in New York and Little Caesars Pizza in Detroit.

Most invitations won’t be extended until Sunday evening, but a warning to Virginia Tech players and fans: The weather for last year’s Sun Bowl was 44 degrees with 35 mph winds.

I can be reached at 247-4636 or by e-mail at dteel@dailypress.com. Follow me at twitter.com/DavidTeelatDP